Tips For Beginners - How To Prepare For Your First Time Learn To Skate Lesson!

Welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, I'm Jasmine and welcome to my channel. Today's video, I am going to be sharing with you guys some tips on how to prepare for your first time at Learn to Skate. And I made this video for parents who are taking their children to their first Learn to Skate class. And this video can also be helpful for anyone who wants to participate in their first Learn to Skate class and who wants to learn some more. Okay, so I don't know how many of you guys know this about me, but I have been a U.S. figure skating Learn to Skate instructor for about three years now, and I have seen many different things. I've worked with many different children, and I've met different parents and everything like that, and I'm making this video to help you guys be as prepared as possible. I'm doing this video because I want to make sure that all children have a positive, safe, and fun first experience on the ice. So the very first and most important thing is that you have to find a rink near you and you have to sign up either your child or yourself for learn to skate classes at that rink. After you sign up for the learn to skate classes, my advice is for you to show up at least 10 to 15 minutes earlier before all of the classes, but for the very first class which is the most important one, I advise you to show up at least 30 minutes before the class begins. The reason I advise you guys to show up at least 30 minutes before your very first Learn to Skate class is because this is one of the most important ones and this gives you plenty of time for you to check in and find the proper skate. The skates are obviously the most important thing, so finding the perfect pair of skates is also very important. And so the thing with skates are that they have to fit your foot perfectly, and they run like differently than shoe sizes, because for example I am a 9.5 in my shoe size, but in rental skates I am only a 7. And also keep in mind that rental skates don't have half sizes, they only run in full sizes. With skates, the most important thing is that they have to be tied properly, which is usually that they are tight around the ankle and also around the foot, but they shouldn't be too tight or too loose because the child or you should be able to comfortably bend your knee and also your ankle, and it should be really easy to walk in them. And if you guys don't know how you should tie your skates, I recommend you guys asking a worker at the rink or a coach because most people will be willing to help you. Another thing about the skates is that you have two different types of skates. You have figure skates and you have hockey skates. In my opinion, the best skates for a beginner are figure skates. And even though if you're a child or you want to be like a hockey player when they get better at figure skating or just skating in general I would still recommend trying figure skates because figure skates have a toe pick in the front and the blade is a lot longer than in hockey skates because hockey skates have more of like a rounded rocker and it's like a lot shorter and like it's easier to like go back forwards and backwards and in figure skates it's a lot easier to balance because there isn't like that big of a rocker so i would recommend figure skates for first time skater because it's way easier to balance and they won't be like leaning all over the place which will also make the experience a lot more fun for them okay so now we are going to move in to what you should wear to your first learn to skate class because people sometimes don't know what they should wear so i'm So I'm here to help you guys. So the very first thing is we're going to talk about the socks that you should wear because socks are very important because you want your feet to be comfortable. I recommend not wearing thick socks or even socks that you would normally put in your shoes because how because of how tight the skate has to be on your foot it'll be uncomfortable on your feet and it won't like it'll be painful. So I recommend wearing like a thinner sock or like a thin pair of tights. Okay, so now we are going to move into like what kinds of clothes you should wear, and I recommend active wear or sporting clothes, and for like your pants, I would recommend leggings or sweatpants, because those are a lot more comfortable, and I don't recommend things like a snowsuit or jeans, because those are not very comfortable. I just wanted to mention again that I definitely don't recommend a snowsuit because a lot of you guys don't know this but in the very first learn to skate lesson we teach the kids or you how to fall and stand up and when you're standing up like that material that the snowsuit is made of will like slide on the ice and it makes it a lot harder for you guys to stand up and it also makes it a lot more unsafe because of like you're sliding around while The time while you're trying to stand up cannot end well. So now we're moving on to the tops. So what I would recommend is definitely layering more of your clothes. And I do not recommend jackets that are puffer jackets because those are harder to move in. And I also do not recommend this because I've seen this happen so many times that parents forget to bring a jacket for their child on the ice. So the parent ends up giving their kid the jacket and the jacket is obviously... Usually huge on the child and it's a lot harder for them to move in that kind of jacket and It's just a lot unsafer So what I would recommend is wearing layers and also finding your child like a thinner jacket that is still warm on the inside and the jacket also has to fit them well. So now we're going to talk about gloves. You always need gloves because your hands get cold really easily. What I recommend is like a nice pair of fabric gloves that fit your hands nice and I do not recommend things like hockey gloves. Or like bigger gloves or also those ski gloves that are like the same material as like those snow suits because as I mentioned earlier, that material is slippy, slippery, and if they're trying to stand up, their hands might slip and that can be very dangerous for them. And also the same with hockey gloves and bigger gloves since Hockey gloves are less malleable, it's harder for them to push themselves up off of the ice, and big gloves can just easily fall off of their hands. A lot of stores have gloves that you can buy that are knitted or fabric gloves, and they are usually pretty inexpensive. Now we are going to talk about helmets. If you are a beginner skater, no matter what age you are, I definitely recommend a helmet. And if you are a little bit older, don't be embarrassed to wear a helmet because it is for your safety, and we want to make sure that all All of the students are safe and you always want to protect your head because that is the most important part of your body. But helmets are always good, especially for beginners, because especially sometimes they're like going next to like the wall. You don't want them to accidentally hit their head in the wall because that could be very painful. And yeah, especially if they fall and bump their head, at least the helmet will be there to like Like, not make it as painful for them and, like, absorb the shock. And, yeah, we also want to make sure that the helmets are, like, properly fitted. We don't want it to be too big or too small. Okay, so the most important thing before the child gets on the ice is for the parents to take them to the restroom because if the class has already begun and the child has to get off of the ice then it's distracting for the rest of the class because some of the other children might also want to get off of the ice and also if the parent isn't nearby as instructors we aren't allowed to leave the rest of the class to take the child off the ice and also because of safe sport it would be a violation because we technically aren't even allowed to take the children off of So the main important thing is for parents to always take their child to the restroom before they get on the ice. Okay so my main recommendation for the parents is that they shouldn't stand near like the windows because I've seen that many parents are like clapping for their children and some parents even like bang on the windows. This can be distracting to the children and they'll be like paying attention to their parents and not to like the teachers and what they're trying to explain and this could also be distracting to some of the other children as well. I love how many parents want to cheer on their kids, but it can sometimes be a distraction. And I also know that a lot of parents want to take photos and videos, especially since if it's their children's first time on the ice. But what I would recommend is while the children is in a class, I'd recommend you guys sitting somewhere like they usually have seating upstairs or maybe outside in the lobby where you can still see your child skate. And the child may also be able to see you, but you won't be super close. And also at my rink, I don't know if the same at other rinks, we have 30 minutes where we teach the children all these new things and then the children have 15 minutes to practice for themselves and to have fun on the ice. I recommend if you want to take photos or videos to do it between that 15 minutes because that way you aren't distracting your child from learning. Those are all the tips that I have for you guys and I hope that this video can help you guys or your child have a fun and safe first experience on the ice. This is the end of the video. I hope that you guys enjoyed. I want you guys to comment down below if you want to see more of these educational videos or what kind of videos you guys want to see from me. But yeah, I hope that you guys enjoyed and I will see you guys in my next video. Love you guys! Bye!